


Kindred

by ShinySherlock



Series: assorted tumblr ficlets [37]
Category: Firefly, Serenity (2005), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anger, Dragons, Gen, Origami, Two of a Kind - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-03-02
Packaged: 2018-01-14 08:02:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1258951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinySherlock/pseuds/ShinySherlock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The prompt was "River Tam, Bruce Banner, origami."</p>
    </blockquote>





	Kindred

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kryptaria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kryptaria/gifts).



> The prompt was "River Tam, Bruce Banner, origami."

Bruce has gotten used to the young woman, who has been following him around the lab as closely and as silently as a shadow ever since Fury  brought her on board.

The others stay away for the most part, put off by her strangeness, her silence, but Bruce finds her presence soothing. He doesn’t even mind when she spends seven hours straight dismantling and re-engineering one of Tony’s older model arc reactors.

Today she only came in with a stack of large, square-shaped paper and has remained hunched over her work for hours. A pile of discarded attempts grows at her feet throughout the day, but by midnight she is ready to share.

She pads over to him on bare feet, her offering placed gently in his hands.

It’s an origami dragon, done in green paper, so delicate, so intricate that he’s afraid to be holding it. The slightest pressure could crush it.

His eyes go wide as he looks it over properly, sees the construction of it.

"This." He looks up at her, flabbergasted. "Is amazing."

With serious brown eyes she answers, “It’s you.”

He blinks at her.

"No. I’m—I’m not a dragon." He laughs mirthlessly and looks away. "No, I’m a monster."

She shakes her head at him, like he’s a child who has misunderstood a lesson. “Yin and yang. Fire and ice,” she explains.

And now he feels like a child, one who is finally listening, learning.

"Anger," she says, running a gentle hand along the dragon’s back and then looking up into his wondering gaze. "And beauty."

**Author's Note:**

> Astoundingly complex origami dragon [here](http://www.neatorama.com/2006/09/03/extreme-origami/#!xYjGD).  
> Thank you for reading! Comments always appreciated. <3  
> (And if you're looking for more to read, I made a [fic index](http://shinysherlock.tumblr.com/post/105509221665) of my stuff by category which I hope is helpful.)


End file.
